Sunday, September 23, 2007

Yesterday was YomKippur. The Holiest day in the Jewish calendar. It is the day of reckoning where we , Jews, fast and pray that God pardons us for our sins. In essence, it is an attempt at absolution for the past year's transgressions. As I sat in synagogue, I couldn't help , but ponder the ritual of prayer, its objective, and the Jewish text that guided us through this arduous process. Who are we praying to? Is it God himself, the Jewish God of Jacob and Isaac, or some other entity, force, or energy that we can collectively call God? The answer, if it truly exists, is clearly not simple. Indeed, in 1929, Rabbi Gladstone from New York City, had sent Einstein a message asking him bluntly, “Do you believe in God?” Einstein replied as follows:“I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings." Spinoza's conception of God is that God and Nature are one in the same. Nature is the Universe with all known Galaxies and all known life (Earth) and all potential life as well. The Unity of the Universe, from its day of spontaneous inception, The Big Bang, is God with all its physical and metaphysical occurrences. Humans are part of this universal unity and therefore a direct manifestation of God. Everything we experience with our senses is part of this schema as well. The universe is also composed of the same two interchangeable entities Mass and Energy. Hence, E= MC squared. We exist, flourish, , and then die. All part of the natural plan called God. Every aspect of our being , every action, as well as every molecular change that takes place effects everything around us. Our prayer therefore, will have a direct impact on the collective conscious of the universe. Strange as it may seem, this notion of God gives us more control over the world we live in. Even though everyone and every living thing is the product of of genetics and environment, our choices and actions will in some way effect all that is around us. Morality , therefore, becomes an important part of human existence because it will determine how we live together. No longer do we rely on a separate external entity to govern our lives, but we come to the realisation that we are responsible for both the good and bad around us. God clearly exists. Just look around at the world we live in. Contemplate the harmony. It will all make sense.